How to Start an Argumentative Essay

When we are discussing various kinds of college papers, we couldn’t have omitted an argumentative essay. One can call it a composition with a specific requirement. The core principle of this writing assignment lies in the capability of the writer to acquire data and use it for proving of some statement that was announced at the very beginning of the text.

The greatest peculiarity of this analytical writing is that it is less like a simple text, but more like a dialogue with all those potential readers who will read the work of yours. In this type of work, you need to select several points of view and pick up the one that is more appealing to you and support it with the facts that should convince the people of the correctness of your thoughts.

The start of an argumentative essay is probably the most troublesome activity as you need to select the most necessary points to describe, select the position and prepare the material that will serve as a source of inspiration for each paragraph of the text. The information below reveals the basic steps on how to begin the argumentative essay starting with gathering the material and ending up with actual start of writing. In addition, you will read some helpful ideas that can help you improve an overall writing of yours.

The Basics of the Basics

The argumentative essay is an interesting writing task but all possible types that are necessary for writing and presenting to the public review can be written according to a very simple formula that you should keep in mind.

Yes, you can apply this formula to almost any type of an argumentative essay and start gathering the material for creating your personal source base for writing.

The Major Directions for Writing

In most cases, students are assigned the writing task, and these are the themes which are socially important like the death penalty or gun wearing in public places or 8th-grade obedience. The topic is rather speculative and there are numerous opinions. And that is probably the thing that makes argumentative essays so interesting at high schools. Each student from the group will have an opinion and try to stand on it no matter what.

However, there are some cases when a student needs to pick a topic for creation by themselves and reveal all the aspects that will prove the ideas of the investigator. In case one has a writing block, continue reading the following article to check the major categories of argumentative writing which involve a lot of speculation and showing points of view.

The problems of philosophical character which deal with a sense of life, choice, and other eternal questions, where it is impossible to find two similar answers or there will be some difference in the hue.

Social problems which deal with the development of the society and major issues it has to face day by day. Some problems with population, criminal level growth, single-sex marriages, and other controversial questions which can be discussed from various angles.

Political questions are also on the top list for argumentative writing, but they are designated for elder students who have developed political views and understand what is happening in the political world. At the same time, a person should be able to preserve a portion of tact while writing on policy topics.

Environmental problems are quite actual as it seems that human activity greatly changes the surrounding world. More and more situations are rising in the light of the events that are caused by human actions. These questions require a deeper insight and work on various experiments with published results of researches.

Moral issues are among the most vital problems that humanity requires to solve. There are multiple of moral problems that we face day by day like telling the truth, help other people, stealing, etc. Argumentative essays on moral qualities are especially good for the secondary school when children study the rules of behavior and begin to understand what is good and what is bad.

Now, that you are acquainted with the major directions for argumentative writing, it will be much easier for you to concentrate on the selection of the topic that suits your requirements.

Synthesizing the Ideas

The creation of the text requires some serious approach and several steps in order to come up with a serious idea that is worth writing about and that will be appealing for both professors who will check it and the readers who will listen to your performance:

Narrowing down. When the work has already begun, you need to be capable to narrow down the topic of writing. Writing, in general, is easier, of course, but it won’t allow you to reveal a concrete topic from various aspects.For example, when you are writing about a criminal problem, the first step that you should do is to specify a peculiar aspect, case or any other fairly specific point. In this way, the readers will be more interested in your writing.

Set the angle. When you have to narrow down the topic, the second action to do is writing out strong and weak points of your topic. What does make you worry about this theme in particular? Are there any solutions to the issues that will be presented in the argumentative essay? Mind that the topic should strike the emotions of people and only then, it will become a successfully written argumentative essay.While selecting a point of view in the text, you should note that a proper argumentative essay is not a one-sided text. Mind that you need to add some additional points of view together with arguments and counter-arguments. The assignment that is investigated from various aspects shows decent skills of the student as of a future scientist.

Gather the material. While working on the preparation of the data, before writing, you need to prepare the list of data that will bring the sense of the work to the readers. Create the list of statements for or against the discussed topic and support it with evidence. Remember that the information should be not only connected with the topic of writing but also reflect the current state of affairs meaning that the info should be the most up to date.

Provide the examples. The readers will become off guard with heart-touching examples. Search for the material that describes the topic in the brightest colors. Find the shocking facts that will attract the attention of any person who will start reading the work of yours.

Actual Writing of the Essay

A good argumentative essay is usually rather interesting and when properly done, you will not face any difficulties with defending your topic during the presentation. When you begin to write the text, there are following steps which should be followed as they are quite crucial, and you need to always keep them in mind.

Following the outline of the argumentative essay. Always remember the formula that was shown to you at the beginning. Sticking to the structure helps to make your thoughts clearer and easier for understanding by other people.

Consider the idea of liking what you write. It’s quite a surprising fact, but personal interest increases the quality of writing by astonishing 40%. Involvement in writing makes the work better in all contextual and technical parameters.

Get some template on a similar topic so that you were able to know how the work can be written in the best way. Fortunately, this won’t be an issue as there are numerous templates for writing that can be downloaded at the websites of popular universities from all over the world.

Add a serious portion of efforts to the introduction of your argumentative essay. Understand the introduction as a parade door through which the reader will enter into the world of your text.

State clearly the problem and why others should listen to it – hook the reader so that he or she is encouraged to proceed with reading and start thinking about all the problems that you will describe in the text.

Use the arguments in succession from the weakest to the strongest in order to introduce the reader to the topic slowly like divers do. A step method of offering the information has the most profound effect on the listener and even Aristotle used this method during the lessons of oratory art.

When you are writing, do not forget to state the opposing point of view as it will make your essay look complete. People will read your thesis and will understand that you are not depriving them of their personal choice and are distributing all the possible variants that are available for them to read. Use multiple evidence to support your point of view and compare it with other variants. As a result, you will acquire all the material necessary for writing a good quality argumentative essay that will prove your thoughts to any person who will decide to read your text.

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Angelina Bennett

Angelina Bennett is a college adventurer, shopaholic and dreamer. She has, perhaps, the widest circle of offline friends, but despises aggressive online presence. “Be true” is her motto. She explains her life philosophy in her personal blog at CheapEssay.net – a website for international students.
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